Child's Play
by McKennaC
Summary: When the team goes to apprehend a Rising Tide hacker, the last thing they expect is to find a seven-year-old girl living alone in a van. And Coulson certainly didn't expect to end up falling in love with the precocious girl. Little Skye needs someone to actually care about her, and Coulson and the team might just be the family she's always dreamed of.
1. Chapter 1

A/N **Hey, everyone. So, this is a storyline I started because I was bored in class, and I ended up liking it. So, I figured I'd see how it went. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. **

"Mr. Peterson?" Mike blinked in surprise as the small girl slipped into his booth, sitting across from him. She was probably about the same age as his own son, but she was tiny. Her face was dirty and her clothes severely worn out, her dark hair pulled back in a sloppy pony tail. She also had that pinched, unhealthy look of someone who'd had far too little to eat for far too long a time. Honestly, she looked like a starving orphan.

"Where are your parents, kid?" he asked. She was way too young to be out on her own. He'd never let Ace wander around alone in this area.

The girl just shrugged. "Don't have any," she replied very matter-of-factly. "But I do have some information for you, 'Hooded Hero'."

Mike was too shocked to reply as the girl continued, "I hope you're not keeping that name. You gotta admit, it's pretty dumb. But hey, you're the super hero."

Mike finally broke through his surprise and glanced nervously around the diner. At two-thirty in the afternoon, it was past the lunch rush, so it was pretty much empty. "Kid, I don't know what you are talking about."

The little girl just rolled her eyes at him. "My name's Skye. And I know who you are. But I don't really care. I just thought you should know what's coming for you. Since you have powers, you can bet SHIELD will be nosing around for you."

Mike's brow furrowed. "Shield? What shield?"

"No, SHIELD. Secret agency with a stupidly long name. Scary guys in suits, coming to make you disappear. They're the kings of cover ups."

"Then how do you know about any of this?" The kid- Skye- seemed pretty convinced about what she was saying.

She waved away the question. "I'm a hacker, and a dang good one, too. I just thought you should know enough to have a chance to protect yourself. I should get back to my base." She turned to slide out of the booth, but Mike stopped her.

"You have a base?" he asked in amusement.

"Well, it's more of a van. Okay, it's just a van. I live in it, though, so it's sort of a base. It's kept me safe so far anyway."

Mike winced. "You live in a van? Alone?" She'd said she didn't have parents, but he'd thought she had to at least have guardians.

Skye's chin came up in a stubborn expression. "Yeah, so? I manage better on my own anyway. I don't need anyone."

Mike felt conflicted. He wanted to help the kid, but there honestly wasn't much he could do. He looked at her and decided there was at least one thing he could offer. "You eaten yet today?" he asked.

Skye shook her head, still looking defiant. From the look of her, it had probably been a long time since she'd had any semblance of a full meal. "Hey, Cara!" he called over to the waitress.

She came over with a cheerful smile. "Hey, Mike. This one of Ace's friends?"

"Yeah," he lied. "I'm just feeding her before I take her home. Ace forgot he promised to help Mrs. Anders with her dogs today."

Cara laughed. "Well, kids'll be kids. What'll you have?"

"Can we get two cheese burgers with fries, a coffee, and a chocolate milk?" Mike asked.

"Sure thing. That'll be right out." Cara smiled again and left to give their order to the cook.

Mike glanced over at Skye and chuckled at the shocked look on her face. "What? You're my son's age and you're trying to help me. The least I can do is feed you."

Skye just looked at him for a moment before she smiled a bit shyly. "Thanks."

Phil Coulson hummed thoughtfully as he contemplated the podcast had listened to. The voice had been overladen with a mechanical quality, which made it hard to make out any personal qualities, but it was clearly female.

The information had been largely correct, although some had been taken somewhat out of context. Whoever this woman was, she was good. And they needed good. So, Fitz had managed to track the signal, and now Coulson and Ward were on their way to apprehend the hacker.

Okay, so maybe they had a bit of a kidnapping vibe, what with the bag and all, but they didn't plan to hurt her.

As they reached their destination, Coulson frowned. An old van parked in an alleyway. Some kind of base, or did she actually live here? Either way, it seemed she was severely wanting for money, which was a good sign. She had the ability to collect a great deal of money from any of a thousand organizations that would want to buy information that she could obviously find. It seems like their target had more integrity then that.

Coulson stood back as Ward wrenched open the van door and stepped inside. There was a muffled shout, and Ward came out, dragging a struggling figure with him.

A tiny figure.

_Oh no._

"Ward," he called out. Ward looked up at him, looking about as baffled as he felt. The child used the distraction to redouble her efforts to pull away from the agent, who instinctively tightened his grip to keep her in place. She let out a small sound of pain, muffled by the bag on her head.

"Ward!" Coulson called again, this time a bit angrily. This was a child, there was no need for that much force. He grabbed the younger agent's arm and pulled him away from the terrified little girl.

"But sir," Ward protested as he lost his grip on the girl's arm, "protocol says to keep contact-"

"The protocol is different for _children, _Ward!" Coulson interrupted, reaching out to gently guide the trembling little girl to his side. She flinched when he touched her, and Coulson frowned as he heard her gasping for breath, like she couldn't get enough air in. He quickly pulled the bag off her head to help clear her airways and ease her breathing.

He winced at the terrified expression on her face. Intimidating children really made him feel like a bully. How exactly had this op gone so wrong so fast?

"It's okay," he attempted to soothe her. "We won't hurt you." He reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder, but stopped when she flinched away from him.

"Says the … the man … who had me dr- … dragged out of my van with a bag over my head," she replied, gasping between the words. She was gingerly rubbing her arm where Ward had grabbed her, and Coulson could see finger-shaped bruises starting to form on her skin, completely encircling the tiny limb.

He felt an odd mixture of guilt and anger, and turned to glare at Ward. Ward shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, but didn't look like he completely understood why he was in trouble. They really needed to work on his people skills.

"We didn't mean to hurt you," Coulson said, turning back to the girl. "We just need to know about how what information you've been releasing on your broadcasts lately, and what you know about the 'Hooded Hero'."

The girl leveled a glare at him. It was surprisingly fierce, but the over-all effect was ruined by her wheezing breath and the fine tremors Coulson could see running through her clenched fists.

Coulson was really starting to worry about how hard breathing seemed to be for her. "Do you have an inhaler or something?" he asked her. She gave him an incredulous look and shook her head, and his worry deepened. He resolved to take her to Simmons first thing when they arrived at the Bus.

"You're going to have to come with us," he told her calmly, and she looked faintly scared, but unsurprised. She swayed a bit as she started walking, and he laid a hand on her shoulder to steady her. She flinched again, and Coulson's heart clenched. He led her to the SUV, Ward trailing silently behind. He helped her climb inside, wincing as he realized that she was small enough that she really should be in a booster seat.

As she buckled in, Coulson went back to check out the van. Inside was a meager supply of food, a still-running laptop, and a few pillows and a threadbare blanket thrown in the corner. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply, turning back to the SUV. So, she _was_ homeless.

They drove in silence for a few minutes, the girl's ragged breathing the only sound.

"What's your name?" Coulson questioned her.

"Skye," she replied shortly.

"Your _real _name," Ward snapped before Coulson could respond. He glared at the younger man.

"It's the only name I have." She sounded annoyed by Ward's disbelief.

"Last name?" Coulson prompted, keeping his voice gentle.

He saw Skye shrug in the rear view mirror. "No family, no family name," she said simply. It was clearly something she'd said many times.

"How old are you?"

She was silent for a few moments. Finally, she answered, "I'm not sure. I think I'm seven now, but I could be wrong."

Coulson clenched his teeth as he prepared himself for the answer to his next question. "Where are your guardians?" She had obviously been the only person living in that van.

This time, Skye was silent for so long that Coulson started to think that she wasn't going to answer at all. He had to glare Ward into silence twice when it looked like the younger agent was going to lose patience and snap at the child.

Eventually, Skye let out a sigh, and the world weary sound was utterly out of place coming from such a young girl. "I'm alone." Her voice was so resigned that it broke Coulson's heart. He glanced at Ward to see the other agent biting his lip slightly.

Coulson wanted to keep asking questions, but decided that it could wait until after Simmons ad looked Skye over and given her something to help her. There was still a pronounced wheeze in the girl's breathing.

Skye's breathing got a bit worse as they pulled into the garage on the bus. Coulson got out and walked over to open Skye's door. She was trying to unbuckle her seat belt, but her hands were shaking too much to quite manage it. He unbuckled her himself, and, deciding not to risk letting her wear herself out walking through the bus, he lifted her up into his arms.

Skye gasped and went stiff as he settled her on his hip, but all Coulson could focus on was how worryingly _light _she was. He'd been able to feel her ribs under his hands as he had lifted her up, and he could feel the ridges of her spine as he lightly rubbed her back, trying to help ease her breathing.

Skye was staring up at him, her brown eyes wide with uncertainty and no small amount of fear. He patted her back gently in an attempt to soothe her. "Your breathing is still bad," he explained. "I'm going to take you to see our doctor and see if she can give you anything to help. I don't want to risk making you worse if I let you walk all that way."

She didn't say anything, but she didn't try to get down, simply staying stiffly in his arms as he carried her up to Fitz-Simmons' lab. He had to knock on the glass door a few times before Fitz looked up from his current project. The look of complete shock on his face when he caught sight of little Skye in Coulson's arms made the corner of Coulson's mouth twitch, and he heard Skye let out a breathless giggle.

"Dr. Simmons," he called as the door opened. The look of surprise that crossed the biochemist's face was almost identical to that of her lab partner.

"Sir?" she questioned uncertainly. She was staring at Skye like the child's presence just did not compute. The little girl squirmed uncertainly in his arms.

"This is Skye," Coulson explained. He couldn't hold back a small smile as she waved shyly at the scientists. He could see Fitz-Simmons' expressions softening at the gesture, and Fitz even waved back at her. "She's having some trouble breathing. I wanted you to have a look at her, see if there's anything you can do to help."

"Of course," the British woman nearly cooed. She took the girl from Coulson's arms and carried her over to the examination table on the other side of the lab.

Coulson felt an odd pang of loss and an urge to snatch Skye back from Simmons' arms as soon as she took her, but he ignored it. Instead, he stood next to Fitz as Simmons gently set the girl on the metal table and took out a stethoscope.

"So," Fitz began, looking over at his boss, "why exactly did you bring a five-year-old here instead of an actual hospital? And how did she end up with you, anyway. I thought you were going to get a hacker."

"She's seven," Coulson corrected absently, watching intently as Simmons examined the girl. "And she is our hacker."

"What, seriously?" Fitz nearly yelped in his surprise. "But she's so tiny."

"Yes, she is," Coulson murmured. They watched in silence for a while as Simmons listened to the girl's breathing and had her blow into a tube.

Finally, Simmons dug into her med kit and pulled out an inhaler. She showed Skye how to use it, and then put an oxygen mask over her face. They only had adult sized masks, so Simmons had to fiddle with the straps for a moment to make it stay in place, and it covered almost the entirety of Skye's face, clear over her eyes.

The woman spoke gently to the child for a moment. Skye nodded in reply, her eyes squinted against the dry oxygen blowing into them through the plastic mask. Simmons smiled and patted the girl's skinny shoulder before walking over to join Fitz and Coulson.

Once she was out of earshot, the normally cheerful woman's expression darkened.

"How is she?" Coulson asked worriedly.

Simmons sighed and shook her head, most of her anger fading off. "She'll be fine," she assured her boss. "She was suffering from a mild asthma attack. She clearly knew how to handle them on her own, but it would still be difficult without proper medication. I gave her some albuterol to ease in inflammation in her lungs and some oxygen to get her levels back up to normal. Why did you bring her here, sir? Any emergency room could have easily handled it."

Coulson sighed. "She's our hacker," he told her. Simmons looked at him in surprise. "I know," he shook his head, still reeling a bit from the information himself. "I don't think any of us were expecting this."

"Where are her parents?" Simmons asked suddenly. "Hacker or not, we can't just kidnap a child from her family because she might be useful to us."

"She doesn't have any family," Coulson replied softly. "Ward and I found her working from an old van parked in an alleyway. It looked like she'd been living there for some time. She's alone." The true weight of those words hit him as he looked over at the too-small form of the child on the table. She was all alone in the world. She could have had a more severe asthma attack and died, and no one would have cared.

Simmons made a sort of sad noise and followed Coulson's gaze to Skye. Fitz's eyes widened in sympathy. "Oh, the poor dear. No wonder she didn't already have an inhaler. What happened to trigger her attack, sir?" she asked her boss.

Coulson felt a rush of shame. "Ward and I scared her when we came to apprehend her. He grabbed her before I could see how young she was and was treating her like an adult prisoner."

She frowned but didn't comment. "How long was it until you got her here?"

"About fifteen minutes."

Simmons was obviously unhappy with that, but apparently decided to stay quiet.

"What's going to happen to her now?" Fitz asked, concerned.

Coulson shook his head. "For now, we're going to let her get cleaned up and give her something to eat. She can clearly use a good meal. And after that, well," he sighted, "we still need to find out what she knows."

He turned and walked over to the girl. "Skye?" he called softly, not wanting to startle her. She looked up at him, still squinting slightly. He smiled gently and moved the mask down off of her eyes. She blinked a few times before focusing slightly reddened eyes on him. "How are you feeling?"

Skye shrugged. "I'm fine." Her voice was muffled through the plastic mask, but her breathing seemed fine now.

Coulson looked at Simmons, who stepped up to Skye's side and listened to her lungs again. She nodded to Coulson and smiled brightly at Skye. "Now we can get rid of this thing," she told the child cheerfully. She slipped the mask off Skye's face and turned the concentrator off. "Now, Skye, do you remember how I showed you to use the inhaler?"

Skye nodded.

"Good girl," Simmons praised. "Now, I need you to always keep this with you, alright?" She waited until Skye agreed. "And if you start to have trouble breathing again, just put it in your mouth, press the button and breathe in, and then hold your breath for a count of five. Wait a minute or so, then do it again."

Skye nodded her understanding, fingers curled around the inhaler in her pocket. "Thank you," she told Simmons a bit uncertainly, like she honestly didn't know what to make of someone trying to help her. Coulson did not like the implications that held for her life so far.

Simmons was obviously having similar thoughts as she smiled sadly at the little girl. "You're welcome, sweetie."

"What do you say we go get you something to eat?" Coulson asked her, forcing his voice to stay light. Skye eyed him nervously for a moment, clearly still uncertain about his intentions. But her stomach gave an audible growl, and Coulson forced a chuckle. "Sounds like your belly likes that plan, huh? Come on," He reached down and picked her back up onto his hip, wrapping one arm under her bottom to hold her up.

Skye went stiff again, but didn't seem overly frightened, so Coulson decided to take it as a success. He listened carefully to her breathing for a moment to make sure she wasn't going to have another asthma attack, but relaxed and started walking when her breathing remained unlabored.

He took her to the bathroom first, so that she could get cleaned up a bit. She came out with her face scrubbed clean and her hair a bit damp and slightly neater. He picked her up again and carried her to the kitchen.

To his surprise. Fitz was there waiting for them, a plate already mostly made up for Skye. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, carrot sticks, and a glass of milk were sitting on the table, and Fitz was just finishing cutting up an apple for her.

Coulson set Skye down in a chair at the table as Fitz put the sliced apple on the plate and slid it in front of her. "There you go," he said cheerfully. "Hope you like PB&amp;J."

Skye nodded and blinked up at him before asking, "What kind of jelly is it?"

"Grape," Fitz replied. "My personal favorite."

Coulson smiled approvingly at his team member and patted his shoulder as he passed him to grab some napkins. "Thank you," Skye said to Fitz in that same uncertain tone, like she was confused about what exactly was going on, but thought she should be polite anyway.

"You're most welcome, Skye," Fitz replied.

Skye ate slowly, glancing warily at the two men like she thought they would try to take her food away. Her bites were measured carefully, making sure she wouldn't accidently overload her stomach and make herself sick. She was used to being hungry.

Coulson caught sight of May watching silently from the doorway, eyes fixed on the little girl, expression characteristically blank. She met his eye and nodded shortly before turning away and heading in the direction of the cockpit.

Coulson smiled. It was good to know that, however he decided to help Skye, he would have May's support.

He sat down next to Skye as she finished eating, and Fitz headed back to the lab after ruffling Skye's hair lightly and nodding to Coulson. "Well, Skye," he began, keeping his voice friendly, "what can you tell me about the 'Hooded Hero'?"

Skye looked at him with a raised brow. "Why? So you can kidnap him? Cover up Centipede and make anyone who knows about it disappear?"

"Centipede?" Coulson asked blankly. Skye looked at him like he was being purposely stupid before giggling softly.

Oh, my gosh, you don't know, do you? You don't know what that is."

"No, I don't," Coulson agreed honestly.

"Wow," Skye was still giggling, "all your money and resources, and I beat you from my van with a laptop I won in a bet?" she sounded faintly incredulous, and Coulson could see her point. But he couldn't help being even more impressed with her skills.

A plan started to form in his mind, even as he continued to ask questions.

Skye watched the SHIELD people work from her perch on a metal stool that Agent Coulson had set her on. She really hoped she had done the right thing by telling them what she knew about Mike Peterson. They'd been kind to her so far- frankly more kind then she can remember just about anyone being to her, aside from Miles and Mr. Peterson himself. If she could help him back by sending the right people to him, she owed it to him to try.

She watched as the woman who gave her the inhaler and the man who gave her the food talked about camera footage. The holograms were awesome, but the picture quality sucked.

"I have the audio," she found herself offering. "I hacked into their security cameras weeks ago to keep an eye out." They had both been kind to her, so she was happy to help them if she could.

She couldn't quite understand what they said after that, but she thought they'd agreed that would be helpful.

"We have your computer here," Coulson informed her. "But we couldn't decrypt anything in it."

Skye nodded. "It's GPS locked," she informed him. "It'll only work in my van."

Coulson nodded looking faintly impressed. The scientists were too busy to really pay attention to anything else, and Ward was standing in the background with what Skye thought of as full-on 'Agent Face.' She didn't like that. It was scarily close to the full-on 'Nun Face' that she had grown up with.

"Agent May will take you," Coulson told her.

Skye turned around to see who Agent May was and saw a slightly scary looking older woman standing in the doorway. She nodded to Agent Coulson and looked at Skye expectantly. Skye scrambled to hop off the stool and nearly fell off in her haste to obey the woman's unspoken command. Bad things had happened when she'd kept Sister Margaret waiting when she'd had that expression.

Agent Coulson caught her before she could fall and lifted her down and set her on her feet. She nodded thankfully at the man, though she was still confused about why he kept picking her up.

The ride with Agent May was silent. May didn't seem like the talkative type, and Skye didn't want to risk annoying her. She was relieved when they reached her van. Skye hurried over to it, happy to be back to the familiar sight. May followed her, and Skye could _feel _the judgment coming off of the woman, but as they climbed in to the van May merely commented, "This seems dangerous. It's hard enough to survive as a homeless adult, much less as a child."

Her voice was mild, but Skye had to bite her tongue to keep from saying something stupid. 'Keep quiet, Skye,' she thought. 'Remember how Sister Margaret punished you for being mouthy.' Her stomach churned slightly at the memory.

"I'm not homeless," she made sure to keep her tone polite. "I live here. Trust me, having a door to lock makes all the difference."

May was silent as Skye finished sending the data to Fitz. She turned to the agent. "There. That's all the info I got on Centipede. Now, can we-"

Skye was broken off as the door to her van was wrenched open, revealing Mike Peterson. He grabbed May and threw her against the wall, knocking her unconscious. He turned back to Skye.

"What are you doing?" Skye gasped. She felt the familiar sensation of her lungs starting to refuse to cooperate with the rest of her, making it hard to breathe. Without thinking about it, she took in a deep breath and held it, forcing her lungs to take in the oxygen the way she'd figured out years ago to help herself.

"I'm rescuing you," Mike replied, sounding out of breath as well. "Now you need to help us."

"Us?" she repeated, and he pulled a boy into the doorway with him. He was probably a little older then her, and he was obviously pretty scared. His son, Skye remembered. Ace.

"Don't cry," Mike told his son. "We're a team, remember?"

He lifted Ace into the van next to Skye and shut the door before climbing into the driver's seat. "Hold on. We're getting out of here."

Coulson paced his office, trying to think. He refused to just kill Mike Peterson. He was a good man, and a father. He didn't deserve to die.

But neither did the people around him. If person blew, everyone in a three-block radius would be killed. He hoped desperately that Fitz-Simmons figured out a way to stop that from happening.

His thoughts were interrupted when his phone rang. "Coulson."

"Mike Peterson took Skye," May reported. Coulson felt his blood run cold. Skye. That tiny little girl was being held hostage by a mentally unstable man who could literally explode at any time.

"Are you okay?" he asked, because there was no way that May had let that child be taken without a fight. "It wasn't supposed to be a field op," he added, knowing that she would read the apology between the lines.

"We will be discussing that later," oh yeah, May was annoyed. "At length."

Coulson hung up his phone and hurried down to the lab. He arrived in time to see the monitors begin to flash.

"What is this non-sense? Stop making non-sense!" Simmons demanded of Fitz. She really needed to work on her grace under pressure.

"It isn't me!" Fitz insisted. "Someone's hacked our systems."

Coulson looked at the information appearing on the screens and felt a rush of utter relief. 'Oh, you clever girl,' he thought with a grin.

"It's Skye," he said aloud to the shocked scientists. "Latitude and longitude. Mike Peterson took her, she's telling us where."

He left Fitz-Simmons to finish their job and got into a SHIELD SUV, along with Ward. They were both silent as they drove to the train station. When they arrived, they got out and approached Skye's van in the parking lot.

Coulson had to dodge quickly as Mike tore the door off the van and hurled it at the agents. He caught sight of Mike carrying his son through the crowd, dragging Skye along by the arm.

By the time Coulson and Ward enter the building, everything was in total chaos. Mike had gone crazy, throwing benches and people around like they were rag dolls. Ward tried to stop him, but he simply threw the agent into the wall.

In the commotion, Skye and Mike's son had managed to get lost in the crowd. Ace was trying to help Skye keep from getting trampled as the smaller child lagged, gasping for breath. Coulson caught up to them quickly, dodging around panicked civilians. He scooped Skye up into his arms and hurried Ace over to some nearby agents.

"I want my daddy," the boy whimpered as he was hurried away.

"I know," Coulson replied simply before turning to the girl on his hip, who was still wheezing as she struggled to breathe. "Do you have your inhaler?" he asked her urgently.

She nodded and pulled the device out of her pocket. He helped her raise it to her mouth as she took a puff. Her breathing deepened and started to even out when they heard the gun shot. Coulson pulled Skye into his chest and leaned over slightly to make sure his body completely protected hers.

He looked around urgently, as he called Ward ono the com. "Ward!" he snapped.

"Wasn't me, sir," his agent replied. Coulson nodded briskly and called May.

"May, we've got a third party."

"On it."

Coulson adjusted Skye back onto his hip. "Take your second puff, sweetheart," he reminded her gently.

She gave him a weird look at the pet name, but did as she was she was told. Then she laid her head down on Coulson's shoulder to concentrate on getting her breath back. He ran a hand lightly over her hair.

When Mike fell, Coulson turned to face him. He set Skye down, and the child clung to his leg, hiding half behind him. Coulson clenched his teeth, even more anxious to get out of this without having to order the shot on Mike. Skye was far too young to see something like that.

When Ward finally had to take the shot, Coulson picked Skye up again quickly, pressing her face against his shoulder to keep her from seeing anything. He was so relieved when Simmons told him it was just a tranquilizer. He would be just fine.

He moved his hand off of the back of Skye's head so that she could pull her face away, and she looked up and him anxiously. He smiled at her. "It's okay," he assured her, kissing her temple.

She gave him another one of her heart-breakingly confused looks at the affectionate gesture, so he kissed her forehead and bounced her lightly on his hip, making her giggle. She promptly froze, looking completely confused by her own reactions.

Coulson smiled sadly at the girl and carried her out to the SUV.

Coulson waited for Skye to finish saying her goodbyes to Ace before leading the girl to Lola. He gestured for her to sit beside him in the front seat, then got in beside her. Her expression had gone completely blank. She looked up at him like she was waiting for her own execution, and had long since given up hope of repeal.

He hated that look, and what it said about her life so far. "So, now what?" she asked, her voice empty.

Coulson raised his brow. "What do you mean?"

Skye gave him a look that clearly said 'cut the crap'. "You know what I mean. You're either gonna let me go back to where I was before and pretend you never saw me- which I don't think you will. You seem more like a Good Samaritan type. Plus Mike broke my van, so I don't even have that much of a home anymore. Or you'll dump me back in the system until I have to run away again and start all over again from scratch."

Coulson regarded her sadly for a moment. She was far too young to be so cynical. But he was happy to put his plan into action and offer her a third plan.

"Actually," he began, smiling at the look of surprise on her face, "I was thinking about keeping you."

Skye's expression flickered to pure shock before going blank again. "Nobody ever keeps me," she stated, her voice empty and hopeless. "I'm bad. That's why I'm alone."

"Well," Coulson replied after swallowing his emotions again, "you have some very useful skills, Skye. You managed to completely erase yourself from all records, as well as hack us from a van. If you agree to stay with us, you'll have a home, someone to take care of you, and you can use your computer skills to help people."

He could see tears in her eyes. He reached over and rubbed her back, smiling gently. "I want to help you, Skye. If you agree, I'll take custody of you. I'll get all the paper work to make sure it's legal and that nobody can make you leave. You don't have to be alone anymore, Skye."

Her tears started to fall, and he reached over and pulled her onto his lap, rocking her lightly. Skye remained still in his arms, staring down. Finally, she looked up at him. "Okay," she whispered. "Okay."

Coulson let the utter relief and joy show on his face as he squeezed her gently, continuing to rock her. She stayed stiff, but they was okay. They had time to work on that. He could, and would, be patient with her. She would be stuck with him for at least the next eleven years. Yes, they had time. And he would use every bit of it to help her.

He was brought back to the present when Ward called about a possible 0-8-4. Skye was looking up at him curiously as he ended the call. He smiled and kissed her forehead before lifting her up and over the back of the seat into Lola's backseat. "Buckle up," he told her with a grin. "We're headed home." He activated the thrusters and pulled up into the air. Skye's whoops of surprise and laughter were music to his ears as they headed back to the Bus.

A/N **So, what do you think? This is just an idea that I got in my head. I decided to put up the first chapter and see how people liked it. Please, if you'd like to read more of this, let me know. I have ideas for more chapters, so if there's enough interest, I'll keep it going. So, read and Review. **


	2. Chapter 2

A/N **Hey! Let me just say, I am amazed by the reaction I got for this story. Thank you all for your interest reviews and favorites, they mean the world to me. As promised, since I got such a warm reaction for this story, I am continuing it. Enjoy! **

**I do not own Agents of SHIELD. **

Coulson stared down at the documents on his desk, lost in thought. He'd been feeling a strange mixture of excitement and nervousness ever since Skye had accepted his offer. Now he was mentally preparing himself to fill out one of the few legal documents he had never expected to actually see. Adoption papers.

Once he had properly submitted these papers, he would be a father. A father to a lonely, scared little girl who was used to being completely alone in the world. There were so many ways this could go terribly wrong. But Coulson was determined. Skye needed a family, a home. And, as he was apparently the only one willing to offer her that, she needed _him._

Coulson started flipping through the forms, wincing a bit as he realized just how much of the information they asked for he didn't have. Aside from her first name and approximate age, he knew nothing about the child. He wasn't even sure _she _knew it about herself, but he was certain she wouldn't tell him if she did. He hoped that she would eventually trust him enough to tell him those things, but that was the future. In the present, he supposed it didn't really matter if he made it up.

He glanced up at the clock, a bit startled when he saw the late hour. He'd been staring at the documents for a lot longer then he thought. He needed to go if he wanted to catch Simmons before she went to bed.

He gathered his papers together, careful not to get the adoption papers mixed in with the mission reports, and placed them in his desk drawer. Then he stood up, stretched, straightened his tie, and left his office for the lab.

He stopped as he reached Skye's new bunk, hesitating for a moment before sliding the door open. She didn't stir, so he silently stepped inside, leaving the door half-closed behind him. Coulson studied Skye's small form. She was curled into a tight ball, only taking up a small part of the narrow cot. He took in her sleeping face, marveling at just how innocent she looked. Now that she'd had a proper shower and clean clothes, she was almost unrecognizable as the dirty, homeless child that Ward had dragged out of an old van.

Getting Skye moved onto the Bus had been almost distressingly easy. Coulson had been able to carry all of her possessions, as well as the girl herself, from her van to the plane in just one trip. Aside from her laptop, she'd had one set of pajamas, a threadbare blanket, a disposable water bottle, a few old throw pillows, a travel tooth brush and tooth paste, a comb, and a bobble hula girl.

When he'd returned to the Bus with Skye in one arm and her box of belongings in the other, to say his team was surprised would be an understatement. May was the only one who hadn't stared at the pair with open-mouthed shock. The pilot had simply shaken her head at her team leader in mild annoyance before going to wait in his office for the mission briefing.

Coulson smiled to himself as he thought of his old friend. She'd probably realized that he was going to keep Skye before he himself had even begun considering it. When that had been confirmed by the extra paper work he'd printed off, she'd calmly told him to keep 'his new kid' away from the cock pit, and that she was never going to be a baby sitter.

On the other hand, the two scientists had been overjoyed to hear that Skye was staying. Seemed they'd taken quite a liking to the little girl. Once Coulson had told his team that yes, Skye was going to be living on the Bus with them as a consultant, Fitz-Simmons had approached them, chittering excitedly. Simmons had taken Skye and Fitz her things, and they promised to help her get settled while he was briefing for their next mission.

Coulson had a feeling that those two would be more than happy to work as baby sitters when needed, and possibly also when it wasn't. Luckily, their exuberant welcomes had distracted Skye enough that she hadn't noticed the look of distaste on Ward's face. Coulson was going to have to talk with Ward before his anti-social attitude started to hurt Coulson's chances of getting Skye comfortable with her new home.

Coulson was glad that they had been given twenty-four hours before they were due to leave for Peru. That meant he had time to go shopping for Skye. The kid needed new clothes desperately, along with so many other things that Coulson didn't really didn't want to think about right then.

He reached out and softly brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, smiling as her nose scrunched up adorably at the unexpected contact. She curled up tighter, pulling the blanket snuggly around her shoulders without waking up. He stroked her head once more before turning and leaving the room, sliding the door shut behind him.

When he got to the lab, he saw Simmons shutting off the machines for the night. She was alone, Fitz apparently having left for the night already. She jumped when Coulson cleared his throat, but smiled at him with far more cheerfulness than Coulson would think possible for someone getting more work at one o'clock in the morning. "Oh, hello, sir. If you needed something, it will take a few minutes to get the machines back up. I just finished shutting them off for the night."  
"No need for that, Simmons," Coulson assured her quickly. "I just wanted to know if you would be willing to do something for me in the morning."  
Simmons immediately nodded. "Of course, sir. What do you need?"

"Would you mind giving Skye a physical?" he asked.

"Of course, sir," Simmons repeated. She seemed a bit surprised and worried by the request. "May I ask why she needs one?"

"It's only a precaution," Coulson assured her. "I'm, well, I'm filling out the adoption papers for Skye." He couldn't help but smile at the utter excitement on the woman's face as he said that. She really had taken a shine to the little girl. "I just want to be certain that we won't have any more unpleasant surprises like the asthma. If she needs any kind of medical treatment, I want to know as soon as possible so that we can get it taken care of."

Simmons nodded in agreement. "That's wise, sir. I'd be more than happy to examine Skye. I was already planning to call in a prescription for a few spare inhalers for her. Since she's so young, it would be best if you carried one for her as well, just to be safe."

Seeing the wisdom in that, Coulson nodded. "Thank you, Simmons. I'll bring her in after breakfast tomorrow, around eight-thirty. Would that work for you?"

Simmons nodded cheerfully. "Yes, sir. I'll begin an official medical file for her as well. I'm sure she'll need it at some point."

"Good idea," Coulson agreed. "Good night Dr. Simmons."

"Good night," she replied as he left the lab.

Coulson returned to his office, groaning a bit as he collapsed into his desk chair. After all the excitement of the day, all he really wanted to do was sleep. But if he wanted to start gaining Skye's trust, he needed to show her that he was going to keep his promises. And to do that, he needed to get her adoption papers done and filed.

He got the papers out of his desk and began putting in the needed, albeit made up, information. He hit a snag a few minutes later as he came to a specific question. Date of birth. That was one of the things he doubted she knew in the first place. "Okay," he reasoned with himself, trying to figure it out. "She said she thought she was seven now. So that means her birthday was fairly recent. Or that it hasn't actually happened yet. She could actually be six. No, we're going with seven. Oh, to heck with it," he finally decided, putting down that day's date, seven years ago. "Happy seventh birthday, Skye."

The late night call would have annoyed him had he not been expecting it from the moment he printed off the set of adoption papers. He put on his best bland smile as he accepted the video call. "Coulson."

"Don't you 'Coulson' me, dang it!" Nick Fury snapped at him. "Now what is this crap I heard about you getting adoption papers?"

"Well, sir," Coulson began, keeping his voice emotionless, "that is the proper procedure for becoming the legal parent of a minor."

"I know what adoption means, Coulson," Fury growled. "What I don't know is why the heck you are bringing a kid onto that plane."

"She's a brilliant child, sir," Coulson explained, smiling despite himself. "She managed to erase herself so completely from all records that we can't find a single thing on her. She also hacked into SHIELD data bases and extracted information with only an old laptop and public Wi-Fi."

Coulson could tell that he'd caught his boss's interest. "How old is this girl?" he demanded.

"Seven." Fury's eye widened.

"Kid like that's got to be watched," Fury agreed. "But you don't need to do it personally. Just dump her at an orphanage, let the system take care of her. We'll have agents keep tabs."  
Coulson was shaking his head before his boss had even finished talking. He tried to hide just how much he hated the idea of abandoning Skye. "All due respect, sir, but I don't think that is the best course of action."

Fury raised his brow. "Oh really."

"Look at everything she can do now," Coulson replied. "And she's only seven years old. A child. Think of what she'll be able to accomplish in ten years, twenty. And she'll have spent most of her life within SHIELD, if we can earn her trust. I'm confident that if we save her now, she will end up returning the favor tenfold."

Fury was silent for a few moments before shaking his head. "Dang it, Coulson," he growled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fine. I'll push the papers through. You'll be a father by the end of the week. I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

Coulson smiled. "Thank you, sir."

Fury's smirk managed to make the younger man a bit nervous. "Don't thank me now. Just wait until that daughter of yours hits her teens."

Fury laughed at Coulson's horrified expression for a few moments before ending the call.

AoS AoS AoS

When Coulson ventured out of his room the next morning, Skye was already in the kitchen with Fitz. She was sitting on the counter, chatting with Fitz and eating a plate of scrambled eggs as she watched the young engineer make more.

She glanced up as Coulson walked in. "Hi," she greeted him, sounding a bit uncertain.

"Morning, sir," Fitz added cheerfully. "Would you like some eggs?"

Coulson smiled at the young man. "No thank you, Fitz. I actually needed Skye for a while."

Skye looked back up at him at the sound of her name. She bit her lip, trying to hide her nervousness. "Okay." She set her plate down and scooted forward to slide off the counter.

"No," Coulson stopped her. She looked up at him in confusion. "Finish your breakfast first, there's no hurry." He worried about how skinny she was. She probably hadn't had access to regular meals before, but he was going to make sure she had them now.

Skye shook her head. "I'm full. Thanks for the food, Fitz."

The engineer didn't look up from attempting to scoop his own food out of the pan without breaking the yolk. "No problem, Skye. Good luck with whatever you have going on."

Coulson picked her up before she could try to jump off again. Skye rolled her eyes at him as he rested her on his hip, but seemed resigned to his coddling. "Where are we going?" she asked as he carried her out of the kitchen.

"Simmons is going to give you a basic medical exam," Coulson explained. "Just to make sure you're healthy. I doubt you've had much in the way of medical care."

Skye didn't look happy at the prospect, but didn't argue as he carried her to the lab.

Skye relaxed a bit once she saw Simmons, giving the young woman a small smile. Simmons beamed back at the little girl, making her relax even further at the friendly gesture.

"Hello, sir, Skye. How are you two doing this morning?"

"I'm fine," Skye replied, abruptly losing the remainder of her nervousness. She squirmed in Coulson's arms, and he set her down.

"I'm well too, thank you," he added politely. Skye walked over to stand in front of the biochemist.

"Well, Skye," Simmons began, sitting down in her chair so as not to tower over the small child. "We're going to give you a quick check up and a few basic vaccinations. Have you ever had a shot before?"

Skye nodded, not looking at all excited by the prospect.

"Well, since we don't know what ones you've had, we'll just give you the most important ones. We don't want you getting sick if can avoid it, now do we?"

Skye shook her head a bit grudgingly. Coulson was impressed by how good Simmons was with children. "I'm also going to draw a bit of blood, to check for any illnesses that you might have that we need to be taken care of."

Skye just nodded, apparently resigned to the inevitable needles.

"Well, Agent Coulson," Simmons began, looking at her boss as she lifted Skye onto the examination table. "I can take in from here if you need to go do anything. I can call you once we're done."

Coulson looked down at Skye, who was watching him with an unreadable expression. "Would you like me to stay, Skye?"

She shrugged. "You don't have to. I'm fine on my own."

The blank tone in her voice worried Coulson. She sounded like she was simply reciting something that had been drilled into her over the years. He could tell it was just something she thought she was supposed to feel rather than what she actually did.

He smiled at her, reaching over to stroke his fingers through her hair. "I think I'll stay. This is the most important thing I have right now." He gave Skye a small smile, feeling a bit bitter sweet at the look of surprise and slight confusion on her face. Given that every other adult who claimed to want to care for her had just abandoned her, he knew it would take a while for her to accept that he wasn't going anywhere.

Simmons looked thrilled by his decision, and Coulson suspected that she'd only suggested that he leave so that Skye could hear that he wasn't going to. Coulson sat in Fitz's chair as Simmons ran the necessary tests on the child. He watched as she was weighed and X-rayed, and held her hand as she was injected and had blood drawn.

Finally, Simmons sat back and pulled off her latex gloves. "There, that's done," she told Skye with a slightly strained smile. "Good job, Skye," she praised the child warmly.

Coulson stood up to stand by his charge. "Yes, good job," he agreed. "Here," he lifted her down from the examination table. "Go get dressed, Skye. Your clothes should be dry by now. Do you remember where the laundry room is?" She nodded. "Good. I'll meet you out in the den after I'm done talking to Simmons. Then, we are going to go to the store and get you some supplies."

"Supplies?" Skye repeated with a raised brow.

"Yes, supplies," Coulson chuckled. "You need more to your name than two sets of clothes and a laptop. Now, scoot," he pushed her gently in the direction of the door. Skye rolled her eyes, but left.

Once he was certain she was out of earshot, Coulson turned to Simmons. "How is she?" he asked, unable to completely hide the anxiety in his voice.

"Overall, she appears surprisingly healthy, all things considered," the young scientist replied with her usual gentleness. "I won't be able to tell for certain until I've analyzed her blood samples, but she isn't showing signs of any severe illness. With her asthma, Skye will be a bit more prone to respiratory infections and such, so that will be something to keep an eye on, especially in cold climates and during cold and flu season. She seems to be suffering from malnutrition, which will also need to be taken care of. But I don't see any pressing matters to worry about."

Coulson felt his shoulders slump in relief, but he could tell that something was still bothering Simmons. "Then what are you so worried about?" he prompted the young woman kindly.

Simmons bit her lip. "Skye's X-rays were … worrying. They showed signs of multiple healed spiral fractures in both her arms, as well as several remodeled rib fractures. In addition to that, there are scars on her back that appear to have been left by a," she took a deep breath, "a whip, sir."

Coulson closed his eyes, pulling in a deep breath. How he'd hoped those suspicions would be proved false. "She was abused," he stated softly.

Simmons lowered her head sadly. "It appears so, sir," she agreed.

Coulson nodded. "I suspected as much. I saw how she flinched when I approached her at first, and how stiff she was the first few times I picked her up. Plus, frankly, children do not just run away and live alone for an extended length of time for no reason."

Simmons hummed softly in agreement. "Well, sir, wherever she was living before, it seems she was right to leave."

"And she won't be going back," Coulson added. His voice was soft but firm, making a promise to a hurt little girl who wasn't even there to hear him. "Skye is my responsibility now. Anyone who wants to hurt her will have to get through me to do it. I'm not giving up on her, ever." His voice returned to his usual volume. "All of her injuries are healed, right?"

Simmons' brow furrowed at the question. "All of the skeletal injuries have healed, yes. But there is a rather nasty bruise on her right forearm. It is very clearly shaped like a man's hand. It looks like someone grabbed her rather viciously."

Coulson felt something cold in his stomach. He hadn't even finished the adoption process yet and he'd already failed his child. "That was Ward," he admitted, and Simmons' eyes widened. "When we first apprehended Skye, he was the one to get her out of the van. Apparently, he didn't realize he wasn't supposed to manhandle a small child, and so he followed the usual protocol when she tried to get away from him."

Simmons looked deeply upset at the thought of one of her teammates harming a child, and frankly, Coulson was starting to feel the same way. He was _not _pleased that a member of his team wasn't able to think for himself well enough to know not to use a protocol meant for subduing grown men on a seven-year-old girl. He definitely needed to have words with Agent Ward. But there was nothing to be done for it now.

"The immediate problem is the malnutrition, correct?" he asked. He might as well keep focused on more pressing matters until he could talk with his agent.

Blinking slightly at the sudden change of topic, Simmons nodded. "Yes, she will need some vitamins and nutritional supplements to get her caught up. Luckily, it doesn't seem to have affected the development of her bones or teeth, so it's likely that we caught it before any permanent damage was done."

"What about her weight?" Coulson asked. That had been bothering him ever since he first picked her up. She was so skinny that he could count her ribs. "She seems smaller than she should be."

Simmons didn't seem overly concerned. "Yes, she is a bit small. But she is only slightly under the average height and weight for a five-year-old."

Coulson's heart sank. "Skye's seven," he informed her.

"Oh," Simmons' eyes widened. "That is worrisome. That means she is severely underweight. The lack of proper nutrition has likely affected her growth and development, which is why she's so, well, tiny."

"Will it have long-term affects?" Coulson asked worriedly.

Simmons shook her head, making Coulson sigh in relief. "There shouldn't be, so long as we take the proper steps to get her up to a safe weight. As I said, it has not affected her bone density, which would have been one of the main worries. There's a chance she'll be a bit short as an adult, but it shouldn't anything that will have a negative effect on her quality of life."

"Thank goodness for that," Coulson said with a nod. "So, other than the nutritional supplements and inhaler, Skye doesn't need any medical treatments?"

Simmons shook her head with a kind smile. "No, sir. I've called in the inhaler prescription already, but I'll get some vitamins and other supplies before we leave for Peru tonight."

Coulson gave the woman a genuine smile. "Thank you for your help, Dr. Simmons."

She smiled at her boss. "It's no problem, sir. Fitz and I have gotten quite attached to Skye as well. I'm more than happy to help her."

She turned to leave, but paused and turned back to Coulson. "Oh, and sir? Could you please look over the medical file I'm compiling for Skye? I want to be sure that the personal information matches up to what you put in her adoption papers, so I left those to you."

Coulson chuckled. "Of course, Simmons. I'll get that done before I get Skye to take her shopping. Go get some breakfast and enjoy your free day."

Simmons smiled. "Thank you, sir." The headed out the door, presumably to find Fitz.

Coulson smiled in relief as he sat down in front of Simmons' computer. Skye was okay. There was nothing physically wrong with her that couldn't be fixed with some care and patience. He jiggled the mouse to turn off the screen saver and started going over the new-technically foraged-documents.

He paused as he glanced over the name Simmons had already put in.

Coulson, Skye.

Even though he had written that name several times on the papers he was compiling for Skye, it somehow felt different to see it written by someone else. More real. This name represented a little girl, a little girl who would share his last name. His daughter.

The name was amazing. It was also incomplete. Coulson smiled a bit sadly as he typed in Skye's middle name, the only one he got to choose for her.

Coulson, Skye Eleanor.

He put in the date of birth he'd settled on, as well as his own name and information under _parent or guardian._ He had decided to simply put 'records sealed' on her birth parents, as it was far simpler than making up information that would be false and useless anyway. He finished up and set off to find Skye.

She was in the den, watching some sort of cartoon with Fitz. He was about to commend the engineer for picking a child appropriate program, but he honestly seemed to be more interested in it than Skye was.

The girl in question looked up when Coulson entered and offered him a shy smile. "Hi, Coulson."

He smiled gently back at her. "Hi, Skye." He was a little off-put by the name, but he figured she had probably just decided to call him what everyone else did. It's not like he had told her to call him by anything else. He hoped she would call him by something else eventually, but he wasn't going to press that until she was far more comfortable with him. "What are you watching?" he asked in confusion as what looked like a dish sponge wearing pants flipped burgers.

"_SpongeBob Squarepants," _Fitz replied cheerfully, before bursting into laughter as the sponge's arms were ripped off.

"Okay," Coulson responded, a bit concerned about his agent.

Skye looked up at him. "Is it time to go?" she asked hopefully.

Coulson nodded with a chuckle. "Yeah. Come on." He held out his hand for her, and felt a rush of happiness when she took it and followed him out of the room. Her tiny fingers didn't even reach half way across his palm.

"Thanks," she said after they were in the garage. "I think that show's weird too, but Fitz was already watching it when I came in. I think he's only excited that I'm here so that he can watch kid shows and blame me if someone comments on it."

Coulson shook his head with a smile as he helped her into the back seat of one of the unmarked SUVs. "No. That might be a plus for him, but I think he's mostly happy to have you here because he likes you. The same goes for Simmons." He closed her door and got in the driver's seat.

"And you?" Skye asked as he started the ignition. Coulson's heart squeezed at the uncertainty in her voice. He could tell that she was half expecting him to drop her off at some orphanage instead of taking her shopping.

He turned to look at her. "Skye, I'm adopting you," he told her gently. "I'm going to be your father. You never have to doubt that I like you and that I care about you, okay?"

Skye responding "Okay" was far from convincing, but Coulson knew it would take time to fully convince her. Fortunately, he was very good at being patient.

When they pulled into the shopping center, Coulson took her hand as they crossed the parking lot. "First thing," he told her, "we're getting you a booster seat."

Skye looked up at him in surprise. "Why?"

"Because," he replied, quickly lifting her onto his hip as he almost lost her in a group of rowdy teens that passed by them on the sidewalk, "you need one. You're under the age requirement and far under the weight requirement to ride in a car without one."

Skye just shrugged in his arms, apparently not finding it worth arguing about. Coulson smiled at her lightly as he brought her into the store.

It took quite a while for Coulson to locate exactly where the child safety seats were. He'd wandered for several minutes before giving in and asking a sale's clerk. Skye had found his bewilderment incredibly amusing, giggling softly from her position in the child seat of their shopping cart.

Luckily, the clerk in charge of that area was extremely help, albeit a bit over-enthusiastic. He'd come all the way out to the car in order to help Coulson install it, which the agent was grateful for. He had no idea how the things worked, and the tutorial had been highly appreciated.

Skye, however, clearly hadn't appreciated how patronizing the man had been toward her. Judging by how over-cheerful he was when addressing the girl, Coulson gathered that he'd estimated Skye to be about three. When the clerk had asked Skye, in an incredibly babyish voice, if she was excited to be getting a 'big girl seat', Skye had given him an 'are you serious?' look. When he'd kept at it, Skye had simply buried her face in Coulson's shoulder and pretended to be shy so that he would leave her alone.

Eventually, they'd finished installing the seat. Coulson was honestly a bit proud of Skye for not losing her temper at the man. She even thanked him politely when he gave her a sucker at the register when Coulson paid.

They headed back to the clothing area of the store to continue their shopping. Skye had been perfectly amiable in looking for clothes. She simply picked some things she liked, not putting up a fuss about trying things on. The only slightly uncomfortable part was having to ask another sale's clerk about underwear- luckily Skye was young enough that it really wasn't a big deal yet, and man was Coulson dreading the day when it came to that-and they finished fairly quickly.

Coulson glanced down at his list as he walked through the store. Skye looked down at it curiously, frowning slightly. She looked back up at Coulson. "Where are we going?"

Coulson frowned a bit as well, something occurring to him. "Can you read?" he asked.

Skye huffed, rolling her eyes at him. "Of course I can read. Can't exactly hack if you don't know how to take in information," she pointed out.

Coulson chuckled. "You've got me there," he conceded. "You just looked confused when you looked at my list."

Skye made a face at him. "I can read," she reiterated. "I just can't read cursive upside down."

Coulson smiled, feeling a surge of affection for the child. They arrived at the isle he'd been looking for, so he stopped and lifted her out of the basket so that she could look around. Her brow wrinkled as she took in where they were. "Toys?" she asked, sounding a bit incredulous.

"Yes, toys," Coulson replied mildly. "You'll need something to keep you entertained when the team is working. Toys are things that children have. So come on, let's find you some."

Unfortunately, the toy shopping didn't go nearly as well as the clothes shopping had. When they were getting clothes, Skye agreed that she needed them, so was fine with getting some. The same was apparently not true for toys. Skye stayed glued to his side, not touching anything or picking anything, no matter how much that Coulson insisted that it was okay. Whenever Coulson asked her opinion on a toy she'd simply reply, "No thank you," or "I don't need that."

It was a bit frustrating, but he didn't blame Skye. The way she spoke now was the same as when she'd denied caring about whether or not he stayed with her during her check-up. It was simply something she'd been taught, it wasn't her fault. So, Coulson decided to just find somethings on his own and hope that she would warm up to the idea of playing with them once she was more comfortable among her new family.

He grabbed a few things from the 5-7 section, unable to resist the Avengers themed Legos and Captain America story book. He also grabbed a few things from the 8-10 section, just to be safe. He added an assortment of kid's movies and a couple of coloring books.

He had a moment of fear when he realized that Skye was no longer with him, but found her only a few isles over by the plush toys. He was about to scold her for wandering away without telling him, when he noticed that she actually looked interested in something. He held back for a moment, watching her curiously. She was looking at a stuffed dog, a Siberian husky, stroking its fur with a wistful expression on her face.

"Skye," Coulson spoke up. The little girl jumped and spun around, trying to look like she hadn't been looking at anything a few seconds ago. "You shouldn't walk away from me without telling me where you're going," he scolded gently. "You scared me."

"Why?" Skye asked curiously. "I can manage on my own." She sounded honestly confused, and considering she had been living alone in a van twenty-four hours ago, Coulson had to admit it was a valid point.

"I know you can manage, Sky," he agreed, still keeping his voice soft. "But you don't have to, not anymore. Taking care of you is my job now. And as part of that job, I need to know where you are."

Skye still looked confused, but nodded anyway. Coulson sighed. He knew he needed to sit down and have a conversation with her about what she needed to expect from her new life, and what would be expected of her as his child. Sadly, he was pretty certain that being a child was going to be a new experience for the little girl.

But that was not something they were going to discuss in the middle of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. So he simply smiled softly at her and scooped her up. Coulson set Skye back in the child seat of the shopping cart and pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head, making her blink up at him uncertainly.

Before he turned away, he grabbed the stuffed dog she had been looking at and added it to the cart. Skye looked up at him in surprise, but he simply smiled benignly and headed to the front of the store to check out.

The cashier blinked at the amount of things he had gotten for the child, but didn't ask any questions beyond the usual pleasantries. Skye's jaw had dropped when she'd seen the final total for all the things Coulson had gotten her, but the agent had simply chuckled and tousled her hair a bit.

He supposed it seemed like a lot to a girl who'd barely been able to buy food for who knows how long, but it barely even registered for him. He'd had hazard pay and no real use for the extra money for the past ten or so years. He wasn't wealthy by any standard, but he had plenty to provide for his new family.

After their shopping was done, Coulson took Skye out to lunch. It'd been a bit of a struggle to decide where to take her. He knew she would really enjoy any of his usual dining choices in the area. But he was not taking her to get McDonalds or any of trash disguised as food.

He finally decided on a little Mom &amp; Pop Italian restaurant, which Skye seemed to be enjoying. She'd gotten a simple spaghetti and meatballs from the children's menu, and Coulson was glad he hadn't had her change into her new clothes right away. He didn't particularly car if the ratty old tee shirt she'd brought from her van got stained.

"Hey, slow down," he scolded gently for the second time. She ate like she was starving, which, he remembered, was a lot closer to the truth than he was comfortable with. "I promise you, no one is going to take your food away until you're done."

Skye looked up and blushed, and Coulson realized that he'd hit the nail on the head. She looked back down at her plate and slowly wound a noodle around her fork. "Skye, look at me," Coulson prompted.

The little girl hesitated a moment before complying. "You are not going to go hungry. You will have three meals a day, and snacks if you want them. You don't have to bolt your food down like that, you'll just end up making yourself sick."

"Okay, Coulson," Skye agreed softly, taking a much slower bite. She chewed and swallowed before looking back up at her new guardian. "I know how to keep from getting sick," she informed him absently. "But I know how fast I can eat without making myself throw it up. Throwing up is a waste of resources," she informed him, with the air of a child repeating something told to them by an adult.

Coulson just closed his eyes for a moment, once again overcome with anger for the faceless people who had treated this little girl so badly that her entire understanding of the world was skewed.

But she had agreed to eat slower. He'd just take that victory for now, the rest of it would have to come in time. He pulled the conversation on to some more mundane topics, trying to get a little bit of information on his little girl.

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Fitz-Simmons must have been watching the security feeds for their return, because by the time Coulson had parked in the garage and opened Skye's door to help her out of her booster seat, they were there. Simmons started asking Skye about her trip while Fitz chimed in every few sentences while he unloaded the bags from the back.

The poor girl, who'd just been woken up from dozing off on the ride home, cringed and hid her face in Coulson's neck, overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of noise. He adjusted her more comfortably in his arms and turned slightly to offer her better protection from the overstimulation.

Noticing the child's discomfort, Simmons hushed Fitz and sent him off to Skye's bunk with the bags. Smiling apologetically, she gentled her voice considerably as she spoke again. "I got the supplies we talked about, sir."

She reached into the pocket of her lab coat and handed him an inhaler. "As I said, with Skye being so young, I thought it best that you carried an inhaler for her as well. I'll also keep one with me for her, as well as a few I've left in the lab."

That reminded Coulson of something he'd meant to ask. "Skye?" he prompted gently, jostling her lightly to get her to look up at him. "Do you have your inhaler?"

The little girl blinked before shifting slightly in the agent's arms to reach into her pocket. She pulled out the little device and showed it to him. Coulson smiled and tightened his arms in a hug. "Good girl," he praised.

Skye blushed and looked down. "Can I go watch T.V. now?" she asked. Coulson nodded, setting her down. Simmons ruffled her hair lightly as she passed by, earning another confused glance from the child.

They both watched Skye disappear down the hall before Simmons returned to their prior topic. "I also picked up the vitamins and nutritional supplements," she told Coulson.

She reached into her pocket and produced a rather large pill bottle with a colorful label. "Flintstone's' Gummies," she explained with a smile. "My niece takes these, and apparently they taste pretty good. I didn't see the point in getting her that horrid fruit flavored chalk the doctor's offices prescribe when these have exact same value."

Coulson smiled at her. "I agree. Thank you Simmons."

"I also got her some PediaSure. They are just a common brand of child based nutritional supplement shakes. She should be given one to drink with every meal. I didn't know what flavor she'd prefer, so I just got a pack of each, and we can go from there."

Coulson nodded to her, impressed by her dedication to her task. Then again, he mused, it was for more than just a task. Skye seemed to have a way of worming herself into your heart before you even realize what is happening.

Once they were finished, he thanked the scientist again and left to find his charge. She was sitting on the couch in the den, a documentary on snakes playing in front of her. It looked a bit dry for a child Skye's age, but she seemed happy with it, so he let her be. He was just glad that she seemed to have better taste in programs than Fitz did.

A noise from the entryway made Coulson glance up. Ward was standing there, and what he saw made Coulson's heart sink. Ward was absolutely _glaring _at Skye. The noise that had drawn Coulson's attention had been a scoff.

Coulson quickly stood up, grabbing Ward's arm. "My office, Agent," he said, keeping his voice stern but quiet enough not to attract Skye's attention. Thankfully, the little girl was so wrapped up in her show that she had remained oblivious to the man's angry gaze. "We need to talk."

Ward's expression turned blank and he obediently turned to his boss's office. Coulson followed calmly, assuring that he would be blocked from Skye's view should she turn around.

Once the door was closed behind them, Coulson turned to the younger agent. "Do you want to tell me what that was about, Agent Ward?" he prompted.

Ward's expression remained stoic. "She's a liability, sir. She's a child at best and a criminal at worst. She should not be allowed out of lock up at all, let alone let to live here permanently."

Coulson looked at him sternly. "As you said, Ward, she is a child. A seven-year-old girl. And, once the paper work is cleared, my daughter. I don't care if you approve of her, but you _will _be civil. You've already given her a reason to be afraid of you when you held her arm so hard that you hurt her. I will not tolerate you giving her any more reason to be fearful in her own home."

Ward looked up at him, a bit of emotion leaking into his eyes. "I hurt her?"

Coulson nodded, gentling his tone at the distraught expression starting to form on the younger man's face. "You left a nasty bruise on her arm when you dragged her from the van."

Ward's expression blanked again, and he looked down. "I didn't mean to injure her," he said softly.

"I know," Coulson agreed softly, very much aware of how much that piece of information would affect him. He'd read Ward's file, and knew about his childhood. The thought of being the one to harm a helpless child would be terrible for the man.

"I'll keep to myself, sir," Ward told him.

"Just until you learn to play nice, Ward," Coulson encouraged. "You'll get there in time."

"Can I go now, sir," Ward asked.

"Yes, you're dismissed," Coulson replied, keeping his tone calm.

Once the door closed behind the younger agent, Coulson sighed and sat down at his desk. He still had a team to fit together and attempt to lead, as well as a traumatized child to raise. One thing was for sure, his life was not going to be boring.

A/N **So, what did you think. I'm sorry for the wait, I kept thinking I'd get it done sooner, but then it just kept getting longer. There are entire scenes in this that I didn't have in the first draft. If anyone has ideas for things they'd like to see, let me know and I'll take them under consideration. **

**Read and Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N **Well, here we are. Chapter 3. This chapter did not seem to want to be written, so I hope it ended up alright.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own AoS. At all. **

Coulson sighed as he ended his radio call. "Top speed's a priority, May," he informed the pilot. She ignored him.

He continued anyway. "I know you didn't want to be involved in a combat op. I apologize for that." The silence stretched on. Coulson ploughed on anyway, hoping to keep it from getting awkward. "Do you have anything to say before I go check on the unknown object fueled by evil that's sitting in our cargo hold?"

May reached up and flipped a switch on the Bus's controls without ever acknowledging Coulson's presence. "Good talk," he sighed, giving in and deciding to leave her in peace.

He headed downstairs, stopping to speak with the Peruvian soldiers they were housing for the time being.

They looked up when Coulson entered the room, straightening and nodding to him respectfully. One of them stood up and reached over to clasp his hand. "Thanks for the extraction."

Coulson nodded in reply. "No problem. I'm just happy we could help."

"We lost a lot of men, though," Camilla added sadly.

Coulson winced internally. The loss of life in any op was a tragedy. To lose so many in what should have been a relatively low-risk operation was even worse. Secretly, he was still incredibly relieved that his own team was mostly unscathed.

"We'll make sure the rest of you are safe," he assured his old friend. He knew from experience that there wasn't much he could do to ease the pain of losing your soldiers. She just needed to focus on the ones that were still there.

"Are we safe, though," Camilla asked, looking through the transparent wall to where the 0-8-4 was sitting, "with that thing here? There's-" She broke off suddenly, a frown rapidly forming on her face.

Coulson looked over to see what was bothering her, and barely managed to hold back a chuckle. Skye had emerged from wherever she had been hiding during their eventful return and take-off. She was perched on a stool in the lab, watching with interest as Fitz-Simmons worked.

Coulson smiled fondly at the scene. He was quite happy with how the two scientists had become attached to the little girl, and how Skye seemed to be so comfortable around them. His smile dimmed slightly with worry as Ward entered the lab. The younger man didn't seem to notice the child in the room, going straight to the Scottish engineer and speaking with him.

Before Coulson could truly begin to worry about the situation, Camilla drew his attention back to their conversation. "Phillip?" she spoke up, her voice uncertain. "Why is there a child on your plane?"

"She's mine," he replied simply. It was true. Although he realized what that statement implied, Camilla didn't need to know the details.

"Her mother approves of you bringing her into your work?" Camilla asked in surprise.

Coulson sighed. While it hadn't been the most tactful question, he couldn't blame her for being surprised. Skye's situation was unique. "Her mother has been out of the picture for years now," he responded calmly, keeping carefully to the truth, "so I don't have many options other than keeping her with me, wherever that may be."

Camilla winced slightly at bringing up what would be taken as such a sensitive subject. One of her men broke in, obviously trying to help his commanding officer out of her faux pas. "There any place to get a drink on this plane?"

Coulson nodded, gladly taking the change of subject. "Yeah, upstairs. I think you'll find it satisfactory."

Before the soldier could reply, they heard the sound of yelling coming from the lab. Coulson looked over to see Fitz and Ward in the middle of a heated argument, Simmons joining in every few sentences and nodding at Fitz.

Coulson turned back to Camilla, a bit embarrassed to have his team caught fighting in front of their visitors. Camilla just motioned for her men to head upstairs, politely ignoring his bickering agents. "I still expect a tour," she informed him with a smile.

"I know you do," he replied calmly. Once she'd followed her men out, Coulson turned to take in the situation in the lab. He frowned, deeply displeased with what he saw. Ward and Fitz-Simmons were in the middle of a rather intense argument, glaring at each other and yelling.

Poor Skye looked a few seconds away from a panic attack, shaking and trying to stay unnoticed by the others. Her eyes kept darting to the door, but unfortunately, the angry adults were blocking the only exit. The only way out was right between Ward and Fitz, which Skye clearly wasn't willing to risk.

Feeling no small amount of anger, Coulson hurried into the lab to rescue her. "Hey, enough!" he called to his unruly agents. All three adults froze at being caught by their boss. Skye slipped off of the stool, nearly falling over in her haste to escape the tension in the room. She ran to Coulson, taking the path that forced her to pass Fitz rather than Ward, and wrapped her arms around his leg.

Coulson could feel Skye shaking as she buried her face in his hip. He softened, carding his fingers lightly through the girl's hair. "Hey, it's alright," he soothed, reaching down to pick her up. She buried her face in his shoulder, still trembling.

Coulson pressed a quick kiss to Skye's hair before turning to look angrily at his agents, who were starting to look sheepish. "It's bad enough that you were fighting in front of our guests, but in front of Skye? Did any of you even consider how much you were scaring her?"

Fitz-Simmons looked deeply ashamed of themselves. They'd both become quite attached to the little girl, and clearly felt bad about forgetting she was in the room. Ward was staring at the ground, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

"Now," Coulson continued, shifting Skye on his hip, "you three need to come to some sort of understanding. Ward, you speak six languages. Simmons, you have two PhDs in fields I can't pronounce. And Fitz, you _are_ a rocket scientist. Work it out."

With that, he left his chastised team and carried his little girl upstairs. "Are you okay?" he asked her once they'd reached the den.

She nodded rather unconvincingly, refusing to meet his eyes. He sighed, taking in the soldiers who were watching them curiously from the bar. He turned and headed for Skye's bunk. He closed the door behind him and sat down on her bed, arranging Skye in his lap.

"I'm sorry they scared you, sweetheart," he told her softly, rubbing her back in comfort. "They shouldn't have been yelling at each other like that, especially in front of you. But none of them would ever hurt you, Skye. You don't have to be afraid of anyone on this plane." He needed her to understand that, needed her to know that she was safe.

Skye nodded timidly, still refusing to look up. Coulson sighed softly before putting two fingers under the little girl's chin and gently coaxing her head up.

Skye was frozen, clearly at a loss for what to do. He doubted she had much experience with someone caring enough to ask about her feelings, let alone encouraging her to talk about them. Coulson quickly pushed those thoughts aside before the anger they caused him could show on his face. He knew she wouldn't understand that he wasn't angry at her, and it would only scare her more.

He smiled at her instead, keeping his expression gentle and caring. "Hey," he murmured, pressing a light kiss to her forehead, "it's okay, Skye. You're safe here. I told you, taking care of you is my job now. And I take my jobs very seriously. You can trust me, Skye. I promise."

"Okay," Skye agreed softly. Coulson could tell that she was far from convinced, and was only agreeing because she knew he wanted her to. But she was starting to relax a bit in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. She may not trust that he wasn't going to leave her, but at least she seemed to know that he wouldn't hurt her. It was good enough for now.

Coulson pulled her into his chest and held her, rubbing her back gently. They sat like that for a while, Skye seeming neither completely comfortable nor particularly frightened to be in his arms, before Coulson pressed a quick kiss to her hair and leaned back to look at her.

"You alright?" he asked softly. Skye nodded slowly. It was only slightly more convincing than the first time. He capitulated with a sigh. "Okay. I'll be in my office with Camilla. Feel free to come get me if you need me."

Skye nodded, but Coulson knew she was simply placating him. "I'll be okay," she assured him. "I'll find something to do."

"Yeah," Coulson sighed, glancing around the small bunk. His eyes fell on the bags of toys that he had bought her the day before. They appeared untouched, sitting in the corner of the room. As far as Coulson could tell, the clothes had been put away, but she was still refusing to indulge in the "unneeded" extra items.

"You could open some of your new things," he offered, shifting her onto the bed beside him so that he could reach over and pick up the bag closer to him. He pulled out the stuffed dog he'd caught her admiring at the store and handed it to her. "They're not much fun in the packaging."

Skye just shrugged, sliding off the bed to set the toy down next to the second bag.

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Coulson sighed again as he stood up. He ruffled Skye's hair, making her duck her head and look up and him curiously. "Have you had lunch yet?" he asked her, moving his hand from her hair to rest lightly on her shoulders. As he spoke, he gently steered her out into the hall.

"Yeah," she assured the man. "Simmons gave me a sandwich and one of those shakes before you guys left."

"Good," Coulson replied, but Skye couldn't help but think he looked faintly guilty for some reason. "Have you eaten anything since then?"

"No." Skye was confused. Why would she have eaten again already? Dinner wasn't until seven, or at least, it had been every other day. Did they eat at three on Wednesdays? She didn't think so.

Coulson nodded, seeming to notice her confusion, smiled sadly at her and guided her into the kitchen. He rummaged through the pantry for a moment before handing her what looked like a big granola bar. Skye looked at it suspiciously. The wrapper was plain silver, not giving away any clues.

"It's a high protein, high fat food supplement bar," Coulson explained. "It'll help your body get up to a healthy weight. You need to gain some weight, these'll help."

Skye shrugged, opening the wrapper. She took a bite of it and shrugged. It tasted pretty good, but man, it was huge. She looked up at Coulson with a raised brow. "I think I've eaten more since I met you than I have in a week normally."

Skye was about to take another bite when Coulson suddenly knelt down in front of her and pulled her into a hug. She blinked in surprise, her face suddenly hidden in the man's shoulder. He petted her hair a bit before leaning back and looking her in the eye. "You will always have food here," he told her sternly.

Skye would be scared of his tone if it weren't for the pain in his eyes. Skye could tell that Coulson wasn't mad at her. She nodded. Coulson seemed determined that she would never be hungry. It was weird. Hunger was an everyday part of her life, had been for as long as she could remember.

Coulson smiled at her and petted her hair a few more times before standing up and heading to his office.

Skye could only finish about half of the food bar, so she wrapped the rest back in the wrapper and stowed it in her bunk. You never knew when you would need a food stash. After that, she headed to the den, staying out of sight.

She stayed in the shadows, watching the adults in the room. She could see some of the visiting soldiers, playing cards and drinking at the bar. Ward was sitting on the couch, reading. Skye bit her lip, watching the dark haired man.

He scared her. There was no doubt about that. He was rough and mean, and she could tell that he didn't like her, just like she'd been able to tell that Sister Margaret had since she was really little. Well, Skye didn't get the feeling that Ward _hated _her like Sister Margaret did, but he still made her nervous.

He'd grabbed her arm like he was going to be beat her. Many nuns and foster parents had done the same thing, but Ward hadn't actually done anything. Coulson had stopped him. So did that mean Ward wasn't allowed to hurt her?

Skye wasn't stupid, she knew that none of the adults she lived with had really been _allowed _to hurt her, but nobody had cared enough to stop them. Coulson had stopped Ward, though. And Ward hadn't tried again. She'd seen him watching her, glaring like she'd stolen his pudding, but she hadn't let on that she had. Then Coulson had pulled him aside for a while, and Ward hadn't done it again. He'd just nodded and avoided her.

Coulson told her she didn't have to be afraid of the others. She wasn't afraid of Fitz or Simmons. They were nice, even if they tended to talk to fast and use big words that Skye didn't understand. Coulson didn't give her time to even think of being afraid of him. By the time she'd realized she'd been caught hacking and should be scared of the man who'd taken her away from her van, he was carrying her around and there was no point in it.

May was scary. She was quiet and angry like the meaner nuns. Skye kind of compared her to Sister Margaret, but she didn't think that was fair. May hadn't been mean to her, just quiet.

Ward had been mean, but not nearly as mean as other people. So, maybe she should believe Coulson. There was only one way to find out if it was safe to be around him or not.

Skye looked down the hall, trying to judge how quickly she could get to Coulson or Fitz-Simmons if Ward got mad at her. Coulson was close enough to hear if she yelled, Skye decided. So, she took a deep breath, and walked toward him.

She edged up to the couch he was sitting on, keeping just out of arm's reach. "What are you reading?" she asked.

Ward looked up at her. He seemed surprised that she was talking to him. "_Matterhorn,"_ his voice was a bit uncertain, and the fact that he was nervous too gave Skye enough courage to come close enough to peer at the thick book he was holding.

"What's it about?" she asked.

Ward blinked and looked down at the book for a second before he answered. "The Vietnam War."

Skye nodded even though she didn't know what that meant. She thought Miles had complained about it a few times, but she'd been so busy learning reading and writing and computers that she'd never bothered asking him to explain. "Is it good?" she asked curiously.

Ward stared at her for a moment before huffing a laugh. "Honestly, so for its pretty boring."

Puzzled, Skye cocked her head to the side. "Then why are you reading it?"

Ward smiled at her. He still seemed nervous, but now he was starting to look happy, too. "Because my SO told me I should."

"SO?" Skye asked curiously. It was surprisingly nice to talk to Ward. He wasn't being mean like before, and actually seemed to be enjoying talking to her.

"Supervising Officer," Ward explained. He closed his book and set it down on the coffee table. Skye took a few steps back when he leaned forward, but he didn't even look like he was going to hurt her, so she moved out from her cover behind the arm of the couch and stood a bit more in front of him. "The agent who trained me. When a rookie agent starts working, they are assigned a more experienced agent to train them and keep an eye on them."

"Rookie?" Skye asked at the unfamiliar word.

"New agent, a beginner," Ward explained. He was being oddly patient with Skye's questions.

"So an SO is like a mentor?" Skye clarified. That's what Miles had called himself, her mentor.

"Yeah, exactly," Ward praised her lightly. He was actually smiling at her now, and seemed a lot friendlier while he was teaching her about SHIELD.

"People who know more teaching people who can do more," Skye added thoughtfully, repeating something Peter, one of the hackers who'd taught her, had said a lot. "Working together like pieces solving a puzzle."

Ward looked surprised for a moment before he smiled at her. "Yeah, I guess so."

Suddenly, Ward went still. Skye blinked in surprise at the change, instinctively taking a step back. "Skye," Ward began, and the calm note of his voice reassured her a bit, "pick up that bottle and come over to me, please."

Skye looked at him nervously for a moment. "Skye," Ward prompted again, his voice oddly gentle, "it's okay, just come over to me."

Skye grabbed the bottle that Ward had asked for, clutching it tightly in an attempt to stop her hands from shaking. She handed it to Ward quickly. Before she could move away again, Ward gently grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him.

When the soldiers attacked, Skye dove behind the couch and hid her face in the upholstery. The sounds of fighting were very familiar to her, and she could feel the panic starting to make it hard to breathe. She wrapped her arms around herself and pressed her face harder to the couch, trying desperately to fight off the memories of angry foster parents and yelling nuns.

Skye screamed as she was yanked unceremoniously out of her hiding place. She whimpered as she was hoisted up into the air, a harsh arm digging in just under her ribs and making it even harder to draw breath. Ward stopped glaring at the soldier holding him hostage to give Skye a worried look when he saw her.

Skye was shaking and gasping for air as the Peruvian soldier carried her down to the cargo bay. Fitz-Simmons were already tied to the ramp, along with May, who was unconscious. Ward was forced down and tied up next to Fitz quickly. Skye clearly wasn't considered nearly as much of a threat, as she was set down between Simmons and May with surprising gentleness.

Despite his apparent soft spot for her, the soldier grabbed her wrist when she tried to reach into her pocket for her inhaler and pulled her arms behind her back. Skye was starting to panic, black spots appearing in her vision.

"Wait, don't!" Simmons yelled from beside her. "She has asthma, she needs her inhaler!"

The soldier holding Skye hesitated, clearly concerned for the wheezing child he was manhandling. "Where is it?" he asked, obviously unwilling to let go of the girl.

"It should be in her pocket, right Skye?" Simmons asked desperately.

Skye nodded shakily.

The man reached into Skye's pocket and pulled out her inhaler. He hesitated for a moment before releasing her arms and handing it to her. She quickly put it to her mouth and took a puff, sighing in relief when she felt her lungs begin to loosen. She leaned her head back against the wall as the soldier tied her up with the others.

When the soldiers moved away from them, she could see Fitz-Simmons looking at her worriedly, Ward glaring at the wall, and May still slumped over on the ground. "Are you alright, Skye?" Simmons asked, and Fitz nodded along.

Skye nodded. "Yeah." she mostly had her breath back, so her voice was steady.

After that, Skye mostly tuned out the adults conversations as she tried to wiggle out of the ropes. She paused for a moment when Fitz said something about Kung-Fu, but shook her head and kept going.

She'd just managed to half way free one of her hands when May woke up.  
"I told you never to call me that," the woman groaned as she sat up. Skye was kind of uncomfortable being so close to the agent, but tried to force the feeling down as May looked at the others over Skye's head.

Skye gave a few more tugs and finally managed to pull her hand completely free of the rope. She winced at the burn the rough rope had left on her wrists, rubbing at it softly behind her back.

"Skye?" May asked, causing Skye to jump in surprise. "Are you alright?" The rest of the team was looking at her in concern.

"I'm good," Skye promised with a grin, moving her arms out in front of her and giving them a thumbs-up. She couldn't hold back a giggle at the looks of shock on the adults' faces. She pushed herself up to her knees and crawled behind May to untie her.

As soon as she was free, May took care of the guards while Skye worked on getting the others untied. "How did you get out?" Ward asked as Skye untied him and Simmons was freeing Fitz.

Skye shrugged, forgetting that she was behind him and he couldn't see her. "I'm small," she replied simply. "Makes it easier to get in and out of things." She finished undoing the knot keeping the dark haired man to the ramp and scooted away from him and got to her feet.

Ward stood up and regarded her quietly for a moment before nodding. "Good job, squirt," he praised, reaching over to ruffle her hair. She ducked out of the way and went over to the scientists, Ward right behind her.

Ward stood with Fitz-Simmons, planning their next move. Skye was glad to see that they were being nicer to each other, but they still didn't seem very good at actually doing things yet. She leaned against a wall a little way away, watching them talk. For an enemy invasion, it really was pretty boring at the moment.

Skye jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see May standing beside her. The woman nodded to her silently before heading over to one of the cars. Skye hesitated for a few moments before following behind her. The little girl watched curiously as the woman opened the driver's door and started doing something to the controls. After a moment, the SUV turned on, and the engine revved loudly.

Fitz-Simmons and Ward jumped and looked up at the sound, looking startled. "You guys talk a lot," May commented calmly, making Skye giggle. May got into the car and drove straight through the glass doors to the lab.

Skye helped Ward find the ropes and harnesses, but otherwise stayed out of the way as the adults prepared to start their plan. She knew that her part was to find a place to hide while the others were getting rid of the soldiers.

Now that they were actually working together, things seemed to be going pretty well. Soon enough, they were all safely buckled into harnesses and attached to the plane. Skye curled up in an out of the way corner and buried her face in her arms as the DWARF activated the 0-8-4 and blew a giant hole in the side of the BUS.

Skye tried to ignore the yells and screams, repeating a prayer that one of the nicer nuns had taught her, hoping that it would keep the team safe. Suddenly, Skye let out a yell as she was yanked out of her safe place for the second time that day and held up by an enemy soldier.

Skye twisted and yelled, trying to get out of the man's grip. He growled and pulled her closer, getting enough leverage to undo the buckles on her harness and yank in off.

"Skye!" Fitz yelled. Skye could barely hear him over the rush of wind and the blood pounding in her ears.

"If you want the child back, you will do as we say," Skye's captor yelled at them. Skye kept struggling in his grasp, managing to land a solid kick on his leg. He groaned in pain and pushed her away, still holding her roughly by the arm. "Why you little-"

Ward grabbed him from behind pulling him away and making him lose his grip on Skye. The little girl dropped down to the ground and wrapped her arms around the bottom of the bar. She watched with wide eyes as Ward fought the soldier. She let out a muffled scream as they got to close to the hole and started getting sucked out. Ward tried to save the soldier, but his sleeve ripped in Ward's hand, and the soldier went down.

Skye could see that Ward was about to fall as well, and started looking around desperately for something that would help. A piece of paper hit her in the face and she pulled in off. She was about to chuck it away when she saw what it was. The emergency plans. She remembered Coulson telling her about these.

Skye crawled quickly to where the inflatable life raft was stowed. She reached up and pulled the cord, letting the wind catch it and pull it to where it needed to be. Plugging the hole. Ward hit the raft just as it came into place.

Skye slumped down to the ground in a boneless heap, staring blankly at the air in front of her. "Hey, squirt," a gentle voice spoke up, and Skye blink in surprise before her eyes focused on Ward, who had come to kneel in front of her. "It's okay," he assured her. "It's all over. We're safe now."

He reached out a hand, moving slowly and keeping in her line of sight, and laid it gently on her shoulder. Skye was startled, but didn't think she had enough energy to really react to the unexpected contact. "You did good, squirt," he told her, standing up and helping her to her feet. When he saw how badly her knees were shaking, he hesitated for a moment before picking her up and resting her on his hip.

Skye looked at him in surprise, not expecting Ward to do that, but not fighting it. She'd gotten kind of used to being carried around in the last few days, given how often Coulson picked her up, as well as Fitz-Simmons.

"By the way," Ward added, getting her attention back, "thanks for saving my life."

Skye nodded shyly at him. "You're welcome."

"Skye? Skye?!"

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Coulson ran to the den, feeling frantic. Camilla was safely tied up just outside the cockpit, and he could tell that whatever plan his team had enacted had been successful. But the only thought in his mind was _Is Skye safe? Where is my child?_

"Skye?" he called as he entered the room. "Skye?!" he called again, panicking when he didn't see her right away. Fitz turned around, and Coulson let out a sigh of relief when he saw the little girl. Ward was holding her, rubbing her back lightly as swayed in a most likely unconscious gesture to comfort the small child.

They were both looking at him as he hurried over and took the little girl from the specialist's arms. He held her to his chest as he took in the wreck that was his plane. "Is everyone alright?" he asked, glancing around at his team. He was met with nods from all sides, and could feel Skye nodding against his chest. But, given the tremors he could feel running through the child's body as he held her, he didn't quite believe that last one.

He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head, and she clung to the front of his jacket. He sighed and hitched her up onto his hip. The sight of the rope burn around her wrists filled him with both sadness and rage, and he wanted to get it taken care of as soon as he could. He carried her toward his office, intent on the first aid kit he had stashed there, and a quiet moment to properly comfort his little girl.

When he passed Camilla, he paused to give her a bland look. "I told you they were good," he told her calmly.

She wouldn't look him in the eye. He glared at her, shifting slightly to force her to face the little girl in his arms, a child she had tried to kill. "This is Skye," he informed her coldly. "She's seven years old, and if your plan had been successful, she would be dead. Now you are going to have to live with that."

Without looking back, he carried Skye into his office, and closed the door behind him.

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At the Slingshot, Coulson was looking over Lola with a critical eye, relieved that his precious car hadn't been damaged in the brawl.

"So your car's okay?" Skye asked, coming up behind him. He looked up at her with a smile.

"Yes, she's fine. And she's not just a car, her name's Lola." Might as well start trying to instill a proper respect for his lovely Lola in his soon-to-be daughter.

Skye raised a brow at him, and he was relieved to see her acting so relaxed. "You named a car?"

"Of course," Coulson responded, tugging her to his side. "She's important. Important things get names."

Skye just gave him a look that clearly said 'Whatever, crazy guy.' It was rather amusing on the little girl's face, and Coulson expected to see it many more times once Skye hit the teenage years.

He simply chuckled at her, and they went to join the others, who were sitting on the edge of the ramp with a cooler, getting ready to enjoy the show. Skye sat down next to Simmons as the scientist pulled a cold drink out of the cooler.

"What are you drinking?" Skye asked. Simmons froze, looking from Skye to Coulson uncertainly.

"Umm, well," she stammered, "grown up stuff, very yucky. You wouldn't-"

"You can just say beer," Skye interrupted. "I know what that is."

"Oh," Simmons said, blushing a bit. "Well, I brought you a soda," she added, pulling a can of Pepsi out of the cooler and handing it to the girl.

"Thanks," Skye replied with a smile, popping open the can and taking a drink.

"Grown up stuff?" Ward repeated with an amused smirk. "How many of those have you had?"  
"Hey." Simmons frowned at him. "I'll have you know that when in the field, it's important to unwind from time to time."

"Especially when recovering from almost dying," Fitz added, ever the supportive friend.

"Which is an anomaly," Simmons added, "doesn't happen every day. Not at all."

Coulson could tell she was hoping for one of the more experienced agents to agree with her, but none of them were going to. Instead of letting her spiral, he decided to change the subject. So he posed a question to test how deeply they had bonded as a team.

"Speaking of things that don't happen evert day, whose idea was it to blow a hole in my plane?"

His agents shifted uncomfortably, along with Skye, to his surprise. "Well, sir, it was a group decision," Simmons said slowly, with a comforting glance to the little girl.

Coulson nodded, pleased with the outcome. They were standing together and taking things as a team. _Well, _he thought as the agents talked, Fitz plugging his nose and giving a nasally countdown that made Simmons and Skye laugh, _now we're getting somewhere._

AoS AoS AoS

Coulson stood calmly as Fury ranted at him. He really didn't like that Coulson had mentioned authority, judging by how he kept repeating the word in his rant.

Coulson nodded at his boss when he stood in front of him again. "_Authority."_

Coulson nodded. "Yes, sir."

"And that kid you found," Fury added. "She's a risk."

"She's a child," Coulson countered. "And she deserves a home and a family."

"And you really think you're the right person to give her those things?"

He nodded. "I do." His voice left no room for argument.

"Well, then," Fury sighed, reaching into his jacket pocket. "Congratulations, it's a girl." He handed Coulson a sheaf of papers.

Coulson couldn't help how his eyes widened as to read through them. They were the complete set of adoption papers for one Skye Eleanor Coulson. Skye was officially his daughter.

Coulson nodded to his boss. Fury must have really pushed these through to have them done so quickly. "Thank you, sir."

Fury snorted, but nodded back. "Yeah, yeah. Just make sure your daughter doesn't hack the Pentagon or something and start an international incident."

Coulson chuckled. "With all due respect, sir, I'm pretty sure she's good enough not to get caught."

That earned a soft chuckle from the man as he turned away. "By the way, how's Lola?"

Coulson smiled. "She's good, thanks for asking."

Once Fury was gone, Coulson frowned and tapped his com. "Yeah, we're gonna have to kill the fish tank."

A/N **Well, there you go. I hope you enjoyed this installment of Child's Play. By the way, I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with the next chapter. My plan was to do a purely original chapter every other time, but I honestly don't know what that would be on this one. If you have any ideas for things you would like to see, let me know and I will take them into consideration. If nobody says anything, I guess I'll just go straight into The Asset. I'm going to have to play a lot with that story anyway. Until next time!**

**Read (if for some reason you decided to scroll to the bottom without doing so) and review (if you would like to have your ideas heard).**


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